Business as Usual
by silent15
Summary: All he wanted to do was kill his mortal enemy. Now Rogue Trader Darius Augustin finds himself in a strange universe without an Imperium and without an Emperor. Mind you... Without any competition, he could turn a pretty profit here. Perhaps not all is lost...
1. It never goes smooth

**Author's note - Let's get it out of the way, I don't own Warhammer 40k or Mass Effect. If I did I would strike Starchild and everything written by Matt Ward from ****existence.**

**That being said, enjoy!**

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On the unremarkable planet of Uskion III the sky began to burn. In orbit two old enemies clashed, trading enough firepower to obliterate all life on the world below. From the helm of his flagship, the grand cruiser _His Eternal Will_, Lord-Captain Darius Augustin, Rogue Trader and head of the Augustin dynasty watched a battle years in the making unfold.

Ten years. Ten years since the Chaos pirate Karrad Vall had ambushed his family holdings and utterly destroyed them, leaving only a crippled flagship. He had only survived the carnage by virtue of being on an extended diplomatic mission for his dynasty. His father, Absolon Augustin, had not been so lucky. It had taken him ten years to rebuild the shattered dynasty, ten years to restore their fleet, ten years to track down the pirate they called the Faceless Lord.

Now, he reflected, he was ambushing them. The Emperor had a grand sense of humour indeed.

It had been almost too easy. He'd stacked his two transports as full of valuable cargo as he could and then had them fake a distress signal while the rest of his fleet skulked behind the planet's moon. Vall's fleet couldn't resist. They descended on the transports like locusts only to find a couple of problems. One, the transports were armed and expecting them. Two, and more worryingly, there was a fleet approaching them from behind. Trapped between the planet's gravity well and the oncoming fleet, Vall's forces had nowhere to run. Their only option was to try and fight free.

There was a harsh screech as the ship-to-ship vox activated. Darius sighed, even when he was fighting for his life, Vall couldn't stop monologuing. "How, you Imperial lapdog? How did you know we were here?" Vall demanded over the vox. Darius refused to answer, while some of the bridge staff directed worried glances at the source of their knowledge. An Eldar Farseer.

He'd dealt with Eldar before. Hell, the Augustin dynasty's renewed fortunes depended on the Cold Trade, the smuggling of Xenos technology and artefacts into the Imperium for wealthy nobles with more money than sense. However Darius had never expected this. Farseer Kaerune had simply walked onto his bridge one day as if she owned it and offered him Karrad Vall's head on a plate. Subsequent inquires with his household guard and his seneschal's spy network revealed that not one of them had a clue as to how she got on board. He had no doubt that she had an ulterior motive. His time spent dealing with Eldar had taught him that they were always playing the long game. As such he'd demanded she be present on his ship as a show of good faith. He felt that if she was planning to betray them then she would have balked at being on-board one of the ship she was planning to betray. Kaerune had acquiesced to this demand willingly enough to reassure him that her offer was genuine. And her information had proven accurate. The bulk of Karrad Vall's fleet had indeed been stalking this region of space looking for fresh prey.

The shuddering impact of macrocannon fire against the ship's void shields brought Darius' attention back to the battle. Vall's fleet outnumbered his by a considerable margin. His crew manning the augur arrays reported twenty ships in Vall's fleet compared to his eight, only six of which were warships. But he had the advantage in size. Vall's fleet consisted of ships suitable for piracy, raiders and destroyers mostly with the only sizeable ship being the _Optimus Nemesis_, a Hades-Class heavy cruiser and Karrad Vall's flagship. His fleet however consisted of his flagship,_ His Eternal Will_, a Repulsive-Class grand cruiser; _The Dire Retribution_, a Dictator-Class carrier-cruiser; _The Voice of the Emperor, _a Dauntless-Class light cruiser; _Traitor's Bane_ and _The Sword of Angels_, a pair of Sword-Class frigates and finally the _Vendetta Eternal_, a Havoc-Class heavy raider. Vall may have had the advantage in numbers, but he had surprise and superior firepower on his side.

The _Will _charged headlong into Vall's battle line, trusting to triple layer void shields and meters of armour plating to keep her safe from retaliatory fire. She didn't even pause to engage the raiders that swarmed about her, but instead dove headlong towards the _Optimus Nemesis_. She may not have stopped to fight them but that did not prevent her from raking the raiders on either side of her with kilometres long broadsides, spitting hundreds of hab-block sized shells at them. As their void shields flared and failed under the withering bombardment, they were speared by massive beams of light from _The Voice of the Emperor_, a dedicated ship-killer, armed with nothing but three massive lance batteries that bored through the meters of armour plating that protected the raiders like paper. As they burned and died, venting atmosphere and crew to the black embrace of the void, the frigates followed the _Will_ in, drawing fire away from her and allowing her to close on the _Optimus Nemesis_ unopposed.

Darius entered a course correction into the _Will's_ helm, keeping her on an intercept course for the _Optimus Nemesis _while Karrad Vall continued to rant, ignored, over the vox about the horrible death awaiting Darius. Unlike many other Rogue Traders, Darius took pride in being able to fly his own flagship. _"Then again"_, he thought,_ "after Vall destroyed our fleet there wasn't anyone else who could fly her. I was the only one who had any idea how to."_

His reminiscing was cut short when on the _Will's _starboard side three of the enemies raiders were caught in what appeared to be the sudden birth of a small sun. It flared blindingly bright for a brief second before disappearing, taking all three raiders with it. The pirate line wavered for a second… and then broke.

Darius couldn't help but grin. It had taken all of the influence he had in the Imperium, along several palms greased, to get a nova cannon installed on _The Dire Retribution_ and it was a risky gamble to fire it at such short range, but it was all worth it just for that one shot. Were before there was an organised defence willing to fight to the death, now there was a rout, with every enemy ship trying to escape before that gun fired again.

Darius indulged himself in admiring the mayhem the nova canon had brought for second before pushing it to the back of his mind and adjusting the _Will's_ heading. He had a pirate lord to kill.

Vall's flagship was the only pirate vessel not desperately engaged in trying to flee; instead she flared her own engines to meet _His Eternal Will's_ charge. Dimly Darius noted that Vall had stopped monologuing over the vox. Perhaps he had finally grasped the gravity of the situation. The two ships drew along alongside each other and, in a tactic dating back to the earliest days of naval combat, exchanged a punishing broadside. Both side's void shields shimmered, struggling to absorb the massive amount of fire, and collapsed, unable to endure any more. With both ships stripped of their primary defences, the lance turrets in the prows of each ship turned to face the other. The _Optimus Nemesis_ struck first, its lances carving into the _Will's _hull. On the _Will's_ bridge klaxons blared, the ship shuddered and officers shouted orders as a servitor monotonously recounted the damage taken. But then _His Eternal Will's_ own lance batteries had aligned on their target and filled the void with their fury. Unlike Karrad Vall's flagship these lances were not of Imperial manufacture, but instead were a legacy of trade with the Eldar. The Eldar pulsar lances dug deep into the rear of Vall's vessel, burning through hull, systems and crew alike. As the lance fire faded a bloom of secondary explosions rocked the _Optimus Nemesis_ as lights across her hull flicked out. Her plasma drive, the beating heart of a starship, was crippled.

Darius exhaled a breath he didn't realise he had been holding. Vall's ship was at his mercy. The vox suddenly crackled back into life. It appeared Vall wasn't done monologuing. "You think you've won?" Vall demanded, his tone having shifted from its former anger into borderline hysteria. "Well if I die today, I will not die quietly and I will not die alone!"

The vox cut off, only to be replaced by an alarm from the augur station. "My lord!" one of the officers manning the augurs shouted, "The _Optimus Nemesis'_ warp drive is destabilising! If it explodes it will drag everything in a major radius around it into a warp rift!" The bridge descended into anarchy at this statement with crewmembers either panicking or trying to get the Gellar field raised. Even Farseer Kaerune looked worried, things evidently not having gone as predicted.

Darius quickly keyed his micro-bead into the fleet-wide vox-net, "All ship this is Lord-Captain Augustin. Karrad Vall's ship's warp drive is about to critically destabilise. Focus on raising your Gellar fields. Do not panic, if you panic you will-" His orders were cut off as colours that had no place in this realm of existence spilled from the crippled ship as the _Optimus Nemesis_ collapsed in on itself, leaving behind a howling tear in the fabric of reality that dragged traitor and loyalist ship alike into it depths. Still screaming orders to his crew to try and control his fleet, Darius could only watch as _His Eternal Will_ was pulled into the abyss.

* * *

**OK, confession time. This is actually my first fanfiction. Why have I not mentioned this before you ask? Because I've been lurking on for a while now and I noticed that people tend to ignore stories that mention that they are their author's first fanfiction. This way you've at least read the first chapter. Sneaky? Yeah, a bit I admit. Feel free to yell at me for it. That said if you want to leave a review mentioning if it's good, indifferent, bad or "for the love of God please stop writing now." Everything is appreciated.**

**Oh and thanks for reading! **


	2. How come it never goes smooth?

***Looks at reviews. Rubs eyes. Looks again.* Woah. Did not expect expect such a ****positive reaction to my first fic. You guys (and gals) are awesome. Sorry about the delay in the chapter being published. Between a memorial service and travelling to Spain for work experience I've haven't had much time for writing. On the plus side this chapter is nearly twice as long as the last one.**

**Anyway enough of my rambling, enjoy!**

The first thing Darius was aware of was pain lancing through his side. Looking around the bridge as he pulled himself to his feet he could see most of the bridge staff similarly nursing bruises. The warp rift had shaken _His Eternal Will_ around like a leaf in a hurricane. Remembering the warp rift sent a sudden chill down Darius' spine and he found himself moving to assess the damage, almost without thinking about it. The Navigator was dead, slumped over in his well, the strain of trying to guide the ship though the warp rift had apparently been too much for him. The rest of the bridge staff appeared to be mostly unharmed.

"Status report people!" Darius barked, "Where are we, where's Vall and what's the condition of the fleet?"

He was pleased to see that despite the confusion on the bridge his crew still responded promptly to his orders. Crewmembers quickly manned the augur arrays and damage control stations. The damage control station quickly recounted the damage to the _Will_: a significant hull breach caused by the _Optimus Nemesis's_ lances, several macrocannons on her starboard side damaged by the same and various systems overloaded by the maelstrom of energy that was the warp, with her dorsal plasma batteries being the most major system overloaded.

"My lord," the officer commanding the augurs reported, "We have finished our sweep of the surrounding area. There rest of the fleet is in the area but in various states of damage. There is no sign of the Faceless Lord that we can detect."

"Very good lieutenant, but where are we exactly?"

The lieutenant rechecked his console and blinked in surprise, "Um… Exactly where we were before my Lord, in high orbit over Uskion III."

Darius paused. He'd expected the warp to fling them halfway across the galaxy, drop them headlong into the Eye of Terror or just flat-out destroy them. But to stay exactly where they were? The warp was not normally this forgiving.

"S-sir?" The voice of a very worried ensign caught his attention, "I w-was running a check of our chronometer. It's s-standard procedure after a warp jump to d-determine how long was spent in the warp-"

"Ensign, I know the reasons for checking the chronometer." Darius said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Take a deep breath, calm down and tell me what the chronometer reads."

The ensign nodded. When he spoke his voice was steadier, "The chronometer reads 183.M3."

"WHAT!"

"Yes sir, we're over 38,000 years in the past."

Darius could feel panic bubbling up inside him and he stamped on it quickly. The crew's morale would not be helped by the sight of him losing his head. When he spoke his voice was steady, betraying no hint of his inner fears.

"Thank you for your report ensign. Please inform Seneschal Malakai and Arch-Militant Hawkins that I wish to speak to them in my office regarding our current situation and future plans. In the meantime we will remain in orbit of Uskion III and effect repairs to the fleet. Make it happen people."

As crew began to give orders to the repair teams Darius headed for the bridge exit before pausing walking over to where Farseer Kaerune stood, apparently content to simply observe her surroundings.

"Farseer, given the unusual situation we find ourselves in, I would appreciate your presence at this meeting." Darius spoke quietly to her.

"You presume much, human." The Farseer, responded, raising an eyebrow. "The fact that I provided you with Karrad Vall's location does not make us allies."

"True but we're 38000 years in the past. For all we know, a single misstep by us could have dire repercussions for the future." Darrius reasoned.

"Again you assume human. You assume that the galaxy cares for you and your fleet. In the grand scheme of things, you, me and everyone aboard these vessels are ultimately inconsequential." The Farseer countered irritably.

"There's a saying in the Imperium, 'The right man in the right place can make all the difference in the world." Seeing the Eldar's expression Darius quickly raised his hands stating, "I'm not saying I'm the right man or that anybody in this fleet is. However until we have a better understand of our situation we need to assume the worst, that any action we take could have a dangerous impact on the future. As so any knowledge of the future, any knowledge at all, is vital."

His arguments seemed to give the Farseer pause, biting back on whatever retort she had been planning, she instead studied him for a couple of seconds. "It would appear you are not as slow-witted as most Mon-Keigh."

"Um… Thanks, I guess?"

"Make no mistake," Farseer Kaerune went on, "I cannot tell what the consequences of your actions will be in 38,000 years. The further forward I look the less accurate my sight becomes until it becomes impossible to see anything."

Darius shrugged, "It's better than what we had five minutes ago."

"Very well. It would appear that an alliance of convenience would be in both of our interests."

"Glad to hear it." Darius said. As he turned to walk any he paused, "One other thing. The right man in the right place. Isn't that the Eldar's usual approach?"

"You are partially correct human. However the actual fact of the matter is more complex than that. But that will have to be a discussion for another time. After all, we have more immediate concerns."

"True enough." Darius answered.

Leaving the bridge, Darius headed towards his office, while two members of his household guard fell into lockstep behind him. After ten years then need for an escort still rankled with Darius. He'd spent most of his formative years on the Hive world of Scintilla, doing what he saw fit, while his parents ran the dynasty. The abrupt transition from relatively carefree youth to the head of a dynasty had come as quite a shock to the system. _"Even after ten years ruling this dynasty the shock hasn't quite worn off._" He mused as he walked through the corridors of _His Eternal Will_.

Arriving at his officer, Darius motioned for his guards to wait outside while entered his office. As usual with Imperial design ethics the name of office was something of a misnomer. His office could if need be comfortably seat fifty people at the nalwood table that Darius was convinced had at one point, resided in a planetary governor's manse. Combined with the holo-projectors carefully concealed inside cherubim statues positioned in the corners of the ceiling and the servitors designed to provide refreshments and the result was that Darius was fairly certain he could co-ordinate a small war from his office.

Taking his seat at the head of the table Darius tried to relax and waited for his retinue to arrive. Predictably as soon as the watch bells sounded, Darius could hear the distinctive clacking of his Arch-Militant's steel-toed boots outside of the office.

"Reporting as ordered, sir!"

Arch-Militant Camille Hawkins cut a striking figure. At six feet tall, with blonde hair trimmed at exactly regulation Guard length and dressed in a blood red dress uniform with silver trim, everything about her bearing screamed "military". And with good reason as Hawkins had spent eight years in the Imperial Guard, enlisting as a guardswoman and working her way up to major before being recruited by an Inquisitor, both to serve as his bodyguard and to lead various Kill-teams. After two years, a particularly bloody operation had left the Inquisitor dead, dragged the Augustin dynasty into the mess and, in the end, had necessitated the intervention of the Grey Knights. After that Hawkins had accepted Darius' offer of employment rather than remain and face the fallout from that mission. As comfortable knife-fighting an Ork as she was commanding the dynasty's entire military assets, Hawkins had quickly become one of Darius two most trusted retainers.

That being said, they still had their differences.

"Camille, for what must be the hundredth time, we've worked together for five years. Aside from me, you and Jace are the two most senior-ranked individuals in the fleet. You don't have to call me sir. But, like the last ninety-nine times we've had this discussion, you're not going to pay this any heed are you?"

"No, sir."

Darius groaned, cradling his head in his hands.

"You're wasting your time Darius," a third voice cut in, "Camille's military to the bone. It's why we hired her after all."

Looking up from his hands, Darius saw the genial smile of his Seneschal, Jace Malakai. He'd somehow slipped in without either Darius or Camille noticing. Again.

Whereas Camille Hawkins cut a distinctive figure, Jace was the embodiment of nondescript. With brown hair shot through with streaks of silver, dressed in his usual battered brown coat over grey naval fatigues and with a general air of amiable good-naturedness about him, the Seneschal found it very easy to simply fade into the background. A talent that had served him well over his years of service to the dynasty. Unlike Camille, who Darius had recruited personally, Darius could not remember a time where Jace had not been standing in the background of the dynasty, making sure that everything ran smoothly. When Darius had queried him about his past, Jace had answered that had previously been an information broker on Footfall, where Darius' father had recruited him into the dynasty. Darius had pointed out that while that certainly explained Jace's skill in covert operations, it didn't explain where Jace had learned enough about financial matters to handle the extremely complicated business that was managing a Rogue Trader dynasty's finances. Jace had admitted that, yes that was the harder part of his job but that any information broker worth the name knew a great deal about finances as watching spending trends was often one of easiest was to divine information about people.

Darius waited until both of them were seated before he began talking.

"Alright both of you. According to the _Will's _instruments we are over 38,000 years in the past. So right now what we need is some kind of plan of action. Preferably that plan involves getting back to our own time but if that proves problematic then we still need a plan for the future. Because if we haven't, if we look like we don't have clue what to do, then panic is going to spread through the fleet like wildfire. We might even be looking at a munity. So with that in mind, what's our situation and what can we do about it?"

Jace spoke up first, "I've spoken with both the other ships in the fleet and with our astrographers, they've confirmed that we are indeed 38,000 years in the past and that it's not a simple malfunction with the _Will's_ chronometer."

"I guess that would have been too much to hope for." Darius sighed. "Anything else that needs mentioning?"

"There is a matter of some significance regarding our astropathic choirs." Hawkins answered. "As far as we can tell the moment we exited the Immaterium every single astropath in the fleet cried out and died simultaneously."

"All of them? Any signs of demonic possession?"

"No sir they just… died. We had the bodies disposed of anyway just to be sure."

"So what does this mean?" Darius questioned.

Hawkins hesitated, "I… am not sure sir. I am certain that it is in some way related to our travels through the warp rift but I cannot explain precisely what happened."

"It is due to their soul-binding to your Emperor," a new voice cut in.

Looking up the three of them saw Farseer Kaerune striding into the office, flanked by two guards that were ineffectually trying to stop her progress.

As Darius moved to assure his guards that, yes the Farseer was permitted to be here, Camille bristled in her seat.

"With all due respect sir, trading with Xenos is one thing, but letting one into our discussions is too far."

"Camille, I understand your concerns but you're not in the Ordo Malleus anymore." Darius said, "Maybe this would be too far in normal circumstances, but these are not normal circumstances. Okay?"

"Understood sir."

"Glad to hear it," Darius said, turning to the new arrival, "Now Farseer, you were saying something about soul-binding?"

"Yes. The soul-binding ritual your Imperium uses binds the astropaths' souls to your Emperor. When we exited the warp I could sense their souls being torn from their bodies."

"So what could cause that?" Jace asked.

"The absence of your Emperor." Kaerune answered. Ignoring the silence that had fallen in the room she went on, "If your Emperor no longer exists then neither does the fraction of their soul that is bound up with him."

"So… what you're saying… is that we predate the Emperor?" Darius said, his mind still reeling from the implications.

"That was my first instinct as well." Kaerune answered, "However in his collected writings the Farseer Eldrad Ulthen describes several meetings with your Emperor during the Great Crusade. During these meetings your Emperor described himself as over 40,000 years old. Meaning that even though we have travelled in time, your Emperor should still be at least 12,000 years old. Unless…"

Darius watched as the Farseer trailed off with a deeply worried look on her face.

"Farseer?" He ventured.

"No, that cannot be right… But it is the only theory that fits the evidence…" Kaerune murmured, apparently oblivious to the others.

"Farseer!" Darius repeated with more force.

This seemed to get Kaerune's attention, "I… I believe we have not merely travelled in time. I believe that we are no longer in our own universe."

"A parallel universe?" Jace said sceptically, "A bold claim Farseer. Do you have any proof?"

"As I previously mentioned, your Emperor should exist but the deaths of your astropaths proves that he does not." Kaerune raised her hand and started counting off her points, "Secondly, where are my people? We are 38,000 years in the past, the Eldar Empire should be at its peak and the warp shining bright with Eldar minds. Yet I cannot sense a single Eldar. Thirdly, the warp is more stable than it has ever been. Even if I stretch my abilities to the limit I cannot detect even the faintest trace of any warp entity. But no matter how far back in my people's history you look there are always demons. The only explanation for these problems is that the warp threw us into a parallel universe."

Silence again pervaded the room as the four of them struggled with the magnitude of their situation. Darius was the first to break the silence, "Alright people, we know we are in a parallel universe. The question is, how are we going to get back?"

Camille spoke up first, "Is there a way to replicate the warp rift?"

"No." Kaerune shook her head, "The warp is predictable only in its unpredictability. We were fortunate that we were not simply destroyed."

"You know, somehow I don't feel fortunate. Darius sighed, "Is Camille's idea impossible or just very, very improbable?"

"So improbable as to be next to impossible. The only other solution I can think of would be to find a powerful demon and make a bargain with it to take us safely back through the warp. I trust I do not need to point out that this is not an option."

"Agreed." Darius said, his face grim, "Well people it doesn't look like we're going home any time soon. Now before anyone panics, we've all taken knocks before. So has the dynasty. And we've all come out stronger for it. We roll with the blows and look for whatever advantage we can grab. Same plan here. Now Jace, give us a summary of the resources at our disposal so we can start making some concrete plans."

One of Jace's ubiquitous servo-skulls floated down. This one had a data-slate attached which Jace glanced at briefly. "Right. First the good news. Between the plasma scoops on the frigates, the asteroid mining facility on the transport _New Horizon_, and the manufactorum on the _Retribution_ we are almost entirely self-sufficient. The plasma scoops can harvest solar matter for fuel, we can mine asteroids for raw materials and the manufactorum can convert those raw materials into processed goods."

"And the bad news?" Camille asked.

"We lack the most fundamental part of self-sufficiency. Namely the ability to feed ourselves. Even with the arboretums on the frigates and the _Retribution_ and the extended supply vaults on_ His Eternal Will_ there are simply too many mouths to feed. If we put the entire crew on half rations immediately then we could support ourselves for the better part of two years. Of course that would have a major effect on morale and efficiency."

"So, we need to resolve our supply situation." Darius mused, before asking, "Assuming that there is intelligent life in this parallel universe, what do we have in the way of tradable goods?"

Jace shrugged, "We loaded the transports full of bait for Karrad Vall so the holds are filled with luxury goods ranging from rare gems to finely aged amasec. The shadowblind bays on the transport _Penitent Traveller_ are currently filled with assorted Xenos artwork. Calixian collectors love that kind of stuff. There's also a small cache of Xenos weapons in there too. And if all else fails there's the _Will's_ emergency vault, stocked with good, old-fashioned gold bullion. Never meet a culture that doesn't value gold in some manner.

"So" Darius remarked, "we're beyond the light of the Astronomican, dealing with strange Xenos cultures we know nothing about and all the while trying to make a profit out of the situation. Honestly people? This sounds pretty much like business as usual. So we're going to make contact with whatever passes for government out here and see how the situation develops from there."

"Sir" Camille asked, "What are we going to do with the Xenos witch?"

Darius frowned, "While my Arch-Militant could have put that more tactfully, she raises a good point Farseer. You said it yourself you were only here to deal with Karrad Vall. What will you do now?"

Kaerune paused, "I… do not know. As a Farseer it is my duty to guide and protect Craftworld Ulthwe and her people. But now there are no Craftworlds, there are no Eldar." Kaerune looked up, looking surprisingly lost compared to her usual composed demeanour. "I… suppose, with your permission I will stay and offer what help I can. You may not be Eldar, but you are familiar and I find in that a measure of reassurance."

"If you offer aid, I'll take it and gladly." Darius replied, "Welcome aboard Farseer."

"Lord-Captain!" Camille bolted to her feet, "You cannot be serious!"

"I can and I am Camille." Darius answered, "Someone who can predict the future could be a huge advantage given how little we know about this universe. Besides I learned ten years ago what it feels like to lose just about everything. I'd like to do what I can to help some else going through that. So Farseer Kaerune is welcome aboard. Understood?"

"Understood sir." Camille said stiffly

Any further remarks were cut off by the internal vox system sputtering into life.

"Lord-Captain, the fleet is being approached by a small unidentified vessel. Approximately the size of a guncutter. It is attempting to hail us."

"Understood, I will be there shortly." Darius replied while rising. He turned to look at the rest of them, "Well people, it looks like the locals have found us. Let's go see what they want, shall we?"

* * *

**Ohhh. I wonder how that ME ship is going to react to see the fleet. Guess we'll find out next chapter.**

**A few things before I go. Firstly constructive criticism is always welcome, but especially with this chapter. I'm not convinced of my ability to write dialogue so any advice is greatly appreciated. Especially especially, advice regarding ensuring Kaerune sounds suitably Eldar in her style of speech.**

**Secondly, most of my information regarding Rogue Traders is taken from the Rogue Trader RPG and the various supplements. All of the ships mentioned in the fic for example were built using the ship building rules in the core rulebook. **

**Thirdly I'll try to respond to reviews by PM, but I might post some here for various reasons. (The reviewer doesn't have an account, I think that people should hear my response, etc.) So with that in mind here's the first two.**

**THETRUEMOJO:**** As much I like Space Marines I'm afraid the answer is no. They only really deal with Rogue Traders who toe the Imperial line, and given that Darius is involved in the Cold Trade, he really doesn't toe that line.**

**Master of the Blood Wolves:**** Did you... did you just compare my fic to Hammerhand? You sir, could not have paid me a higher compliment. Thank you. Regarding the timeline, I see your point about making it pre-game. **Unfortunately **I already have a storyline planned out and this storyline begins at the tail-end of ME1 and is mostly set during the two years Commander Shepard spends dead. **

**Speaking of Commander Shepard I want to get something out of the way right now. DudeShep will be in this story, however Darius will not become the latest in a long line of extra-dimensional minions. Rogue Traders are too independent for that. Darius might tag along for a bit until he gets his bearings (read one plot relevant mission) but he will go his own way sooner rather than later.**


	3. Do fear me! Ours is a warlike race

**Surprise! I am not, in fact, dead after all! And more than that, I bring a (belated) Christmas present. Enjoy!**

* * *

**Several hours earlier:**

"Commander?"

The tinny voice on the intercom dragged Malcom Shepard unwillingly from the depths of sleep. Looking up he saw he was seated at his desk. That was odd; he usually slept in his bed didn't he? And why was his terminal on?

It vaguely occurred to his sleep addled brain that he wasn't quite awake yet.

A sharp knock at his door roused him fully into wakefulness. Quickly standing up and tugging at the front of his uniform he called out, "Come in."

The door slid open to reveal the apologetic face of Lieutenant Alenko, "Sorry Commander but the Council's on the line and you weren't answering your comm."

"It's fine Kaiden." Shepard said, unsuccessfully trying to stifle a yawn, "I was trying to finish some reports and I must've fallen asleep halfway through."

"Yeah, I saw Pressley asleep at the mess table earlier." Kaiden chuckled but quickly grew serious, "I guess the hunt for Saren is running us all ragged."

"Well, all the more reason to catch him then." Shepard answered, "Did the Council say what they wanted?"

Kaiden shook his head, "No, they just said it was important."

"Thanks Kaiden," Shepard replied, "Well, better not keep them waiting."

Walking towards the comm room Shepard noticed several bleary-eyed crew members. Kaiden was right, between Therum, Noveria, Feros and a score of minor missions, the mission was taking its toll on the crew. Even Tali was less energetic than usual.

Entering the comm room, Shepard activated the comm system and three familiar figures coalesced into view.

"Ah Commander." Councillor Tevos nodded her head in greeting. "I trust your hunt goes well?"

"We're closing in Councillors. Saren's running out of places to hide. You said you had something important?"

Valern took over, "Are you by any chance familiar with the Saria system?

"It's just behind a recently opened relay isn't it? Named after a famous Asari huntress? It's been considered for colonisation but who has the right to colonise it is disputed if I remember correctly." Shepard said, trying to figure out what Valern was driving at. "Are you saying there's evidence of Saren being there?"

Valern paused, "We were hoping you could tell us."

Sparadus cut in, "Shortly before we contacted you one of our survey probes in the system reported a massive energy surge across the entire electromagnetic spectrum just above the third planet in the system."

"Any idea what the source was?" Shepard asked.

"That is what troubles us Commander." Valern answered, "As far as our probes instruments can determine this surge occurred spontaneously."

Tevos took over again, "Naturally Commander, such events do not happen without a cause."

"You think it was caused by the Conduit!" Shepard exclaimed, any last trace of fatigue draining away.

"It is a possibility that we cannot ignore Commander." Tevos stated, "To that end, we would like the _Normandy_ to investigate. If it is nothing then we can all rest easy. If there is a problem then we trust you can resolve it. And if it is in some way related to Saren's plans then we all benefit."

"Understood, I'll get right on it." Shepard said before cutting the link.

"So, Commander," Joker's voice came over the intercom, "Did the Council actually give us something useful this time or was it just more hot air?"

"Possibly useful but equally, possibly just a goose chase." Shepard answered, "Either way I guess we'll find out. Set a course for the Saria system."

"Aye, aye Commander."

"In the meantime, give me ship-wide intercom Joker, I'd like to speak to the crew."

"Comm's open Commander."

Shepard paused and took a deep breath before speaking. "All hands this is Commander Shepard speaking. We are currently on course for the Saria system to investigate a potential lead on Saren. It'll take several hours to get to Saria. Now I know we've all been burning the candle at both ends lately. Therefore anyone not directly involved in keeping the Normandy on course is hereby ordered to get some rest. Shepard out."

Shepard returned to his quarters and tried to finish the report on his terminal but found that paperwork had lost its appeal. Deciding that the best report was the report done later, Shepard closed his terminal and decided to talk a walk around the Normandy.

Down in the engine room Shepard soon saw a familiar figure hunched over an omni-tool and he couldn't help but smile despite himself.

"I thought I ordered everyone to get some rest." He said in the sternest tone he could muster and watched as the figure jumped guiltily.

"Keelah I-I'm sorry Commander," Tali'Zorah Nar Rayya began to babble, "It-it's just that I can't sleep with this problem on my mind and, and..."

Shepard could no longer keep a straight face. As he began to chuckle Tali's explanation petered out and was replaced by an accusatory glare. "You meant for that to happen."

"Sure did." Shepard replied, privately impressed by Tali's ability to clearly convey a glare despite the opaque helm she wore, before asking, "What kind of problem are you having?"

Tali relaxed slightly, "It's that energy surge. I looked over the data that the Council sent from the probe and, well, that surge shouldn't have happened."

"Well that's why the Council wants us to check it out-"Shepard began before being cut off by a visibly animated Tali.

"No, no, I don't mean the surge is improbable, I mean it's impossible. The surge broke several laws of physics, including fundamental laws like the Conservation of Energy and the Second Law of Thermodynamics, and then it disappeared with leaving any residual traces behind."

"Maybe there's a problem with the survey probe then." Shepard suggested.

Tali shook her head, "Doubtful. Those probes have three separate sensor suites and each are monitored by an advanced diagnostic system. If any system was damaged we would know about it."

"So what could cause this?" Shepard asked.

"I don't know," Tali sighed, "and it's driving me crazy."

"We'll find out when we get there Tali." Shepard reassured her, "But I'm going to need my best engineer at a hundred percent. Get some rest Tali. For me?"

"Okay Shepard."

As Tali headed for the sleeper pods, Shepard rose and reluctantly decided to give the reports another stab. Possibly a literal stab this time.

**Several hours later…**

"Err Commander?" Joker's voice came over the intercom, "I just ran a scan of the anomaly area. Then I ran another one. Then I ran a diagnostic on the ladar systems. And then I thought about running a diagnostic on the diagnostic systems but I realised that would be silly and… You better get up here Commander."

"What's got you so worked up Joker?" Shepard asked when he arrived in the now very crowded cockpit. All of his ground team plus Navigator Pressley were crammed into the small space, eager to see what all the fuss was about.

"I'm about to show you." Joker retorted, "I'm bringing us around the moon to get a view on the anomaly juuuust about… Now."

And then the _Normandy_ came around the edge of the moon to a sight none of them could have imagined.

Eight staggeringly huge objects with the unmistakable profile of starships hung in orbit over the planet. They floated serenely in space, apparently oblivious to the fact that ships of their scale simply shouldn't exist.

"Keelah." Tali whispered. No one else said anything. There wasn't much that could be said.

"Commander." Joker murmured, "Ladar returns shows that the biggest of those ships is nearly seven and a half kilometres long."

It was upon hearing this news that Navigator Pressley fainted.

And with that the spell was broken. As Kaiden moved to attend to Pressley, everyone else started talking – or in some cases shouting – all at once.

"No way! No way those things can be real!" Ashley shouted, still having difficulty processing what she was seeing.

"In all my research I never encountered even a hint of vessels of this size or style." Liara said, desperately trying to think of any culture that could be even a possible match.

"Hah! Where can I get one of those?" Wrex boomed.

"How could anyone be able to build such huge ships? I mean the technological challenges would be hard enough to overcome, never mind securing sufficient resources to build them." Tali breathed, still seemingly in awe.

"You know Shepard, after all these ridiculously big and dangerous things we've found we should probably go to some planet where the biggest life forms are small furry balls of fluff. You know, just for variety." Garrus half-heartedly joked.

"Okay people, settle down!" Shepard shouted, trying to make himself over the din.

"Joker, open a channel to the biggest ship. I'll bet anything that's their flagship."

"Channel open Commander."

After a brief moment of silence a male voice spoke over the comm.

"Ego Darius Augustin Perfide Mercator de dynastia Augustin, praefectus Maximi Navis "Eius Eeterna Voluntate". Cognosce te ipsum."

With that the voice cut off, leave the Normandy crew wondering what they had just heard.

"For an unidentified language that sounded oddly like English in some of its phrases," Shepard said, his brow creasing with thought, "Any ideas on why that is people?"

"Because unless I'm mistaken they're speaking of Latin sir. A bastardised version of Latin but still Latin." Ashley put in. Spotting everyone's puzzled expressions she quickly explained, "Mon was determined that we would get a 'proper' education. Latin was part of that education."

"If Latin's a human language then why don't the translators understand it?" Wrex asked.

"Because Latin's a dead language. It's still taught sometimes for academic reasons but hasn't been used as an actual language of conversation for nearly two thousand years." Shepard answered, his mind still trying to grasp anything that made sense in this situation. Giant ships that appeared from strange physics defying energy surges with their inhabitants speaking a dead language? This was shaping up to be a strange day, even for him.

"Commander, if they're speaking Latin, then that means we might be dealing with humans." Kaiden said from where he was kneeling next to Pressley.

"If that's the case then the ancient Romans were much more advanced than we gave them credit for." Shepard replied, before turning to address the whole team, "Since Latin's a dead language it won't be included in the standard translator package. However there will be an update for Latin on the extranet which I want everyone here to download." Suiting actions to words Shepard brought up his own omni-tool and quickly typed in a few commands before continuing, "And since we don't know if they have translators Ash, it looks like you're going to have to translate for now. Can you tell them who we are and then ask them who they are?"

Ashley scowled slightly at being used as a translator but she relayed what Shepard had said.

The response was gratifyingly quick. "This is Lord-Captain Darius Augustin. No doubt you have a great deal of questions Commander Shepard. We also have many questions. To the end of resolving both of our questions I would like to extend the hospitality of my flagship _His Eternal Will_. Should you accept, one of our primary cargo bays will be large enough to accommodate your vessel. We will illuminate a cargo bay on our port side momentarily.

Joker let out a low whistle, "They weren't kidding Commander, the bay they lit up is large enough for me to land the Normandy with space to spare."

"What do you think Shepard? Do we take them up on their offer?" Garrus asked.

"I don't see any other way to get the answers we need." Shepard shrugged, "However as far we know, the possibility of them being human notwithstanding, this is still a first contact. So we're going to do this one by the books which means 'assume hostility'." Shepard punctuated the last two words with air quotes. "So I want Ashley, Garrus and Tali to meet me in the hanger bay, locked, loaded and ready to go by the time we touch down. In the meantime Kaiden I want you to check with the supply officer and see if we have any of those old fashioned earpiece translators to give to our hosts."

"Aye, aye sir!" Kaiden snapped a salute and headed off, shortly followed by the rest of the team and a woozy but now conscious Pressley. Shepard also started to move before being stopped by a call from Joker.

"Commander! You need to see this."

Looking out the window it was easy for Shepard to see what had caught his pilot's attention. Row upon row of massive cannons were arranged in a giant broadside that stretched for kilometres down the side of the ship's hull.

"My God." Shepard whispered, "Imagine this thing's firepower."

"I really don't think I want to." Joker replied. "Just be careful over there Commander. I get the feeling that these people don't do things by half."

The uneasy feeling created by the sight of this mystery ship's armaments refused to go away as Shepard stood in the hangar, waiting for the Normandy to touch down. This new ship was a warship, no doubt about it. But what kind of society would need warships of such scale?

Such thoughts were quickly banished as the bay door began to lower and he could hear shouted from outside,

"Present arms!"

Stepping into the cavernous cargo bay it became clear that their host had seen fit to send an honour guard to meet them. Shepard took this opportunity to get his first look at a representative of this strange fleet. His first glance revealed what they had suspected back on the Normandy, that these people were human, although that discovery simply raised more questions. A second look revealed that this was not a purely ceremonial force sent to greet them. Dressed in thick armoured suits in a mottled grey and black urban camouflage scheme, they were armed with rifles that, although more bulky than his own Avenger looked no less lethal for it. But by far the most unusual thing about these soldiers was that at each of their waists was unmistakably a sword sheathed in a scabbard.

All this went through Shepard's head in the few seconds before the soldiers saw them and, as one, turned and levelled their guns at Garrus.

Shepard's own rifle was up and aimed in a heartbeat, along with the rest of his team's weapons.

"Stand down!"

The soldiers complied, lowering their weapons with obvious reluctance. Looking towards the rear of the cargo bay Shepard could see where the order had originated from. Striding across the deck came a man dressed in a long dark purple overcoat, trimmed with an impressive amount of gold thread. Underneath it the coat he wore amour similar to the soldiers', except his appeared to be completely gilded in gold. Flanking him were two women, one blonde and wearing a red and silver uniform with the unmistakeable bearing of a career soldier. The other had long, silver hair and was dressed in flowing black robes with what appeared to be various sigils emblazoned on them in bone white. Something about the woman in black struck Shepard as odd but he decided to try and puzzle that out later and instead focused on determining if any this small party were armed.

None of them appeared to be armed, but neither did they appear intimidated by the weapons trained on them as they approached. When they reached the base of the Normandy's ramp they halted before the man spoke.

"My apologies for this incident Commander." He gave a brief, apologetic smile, "The fault is mine, I am afraid. I failed to inform my household guard that we might be playing host to xenos and I am afraid they overreacted."

Shepard sighed and lowered his gun slightly, before motioning to Ashley to hand over one of the translators. Watching as Ashley explained the device's function in halting Latin, Shepard mulled over the man's peculiar choice of word for alien. Xenos. He decided to put it down to put it down to imperfect translation as according to Ashley their hosts spoke a bastardised version of Latin, doubtless confusing the translator somewhat. As he finished this line of though he saw the man shrug and slip the translator into his ear.

"Can you understand me?" Shepard asked cautiously.

"Yes." The man nodded, "I trust you are Commander Shepard?" When Shepard nodded in turn he went on, "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Lord-Captain Darius Augustin of the Augustin dynasty, Rogue Trader and commander of this fleet."

"Yeah, you might have difficulty fitting that on a business card." Garrus quipped.

Darius looked at Garrus for a second, before starting to laugh, "Yes, I suppose I would." With this abrupt moment of levity, the tension lingering in the room drained away. As Shepard holstered his rifle, Darius turned and snapped his fingers. At this the guards turned smartly on their heels and began to file out of the cargo bay. Turning back to Shepard, Darius continued, "I don't suppose you would care to talk in more comfortable surroundings than a cargo bay? If we head to my office I can at least offer you some refreshments while we talk."

"Alright, lead on." Shepard answered.

"Very well but before we go, allow me to introduce my colleagues." Darius said, before gesturing at the woman in black. "Commander Shepard, allow me to introduce Farseer Kaerune, a recent addition to our fleet." Farseer Kaerune offered Shepard's team a faint nod that to Shepard seemed less a gesture of respect more a mere acknowledgement of their existence.

Unperturbed by the Farseer's lack of reaction, Darius continued on, "And this is Arch-Militant Camille Hawkins, commander of all the Augustin dynasty's military forces." Hawkins made an odd gesture, consisting of placing her hands on her chest with the thumbs interlocked, which Shepard would later learn was meant to resemble the double headed eagle that was the Imperium's sigil.

Shepard quickly moved to introduce Darius to his own team before exiting the cargo bay and finding themselves in a massive corridor. While Alliance vessels, like most military ships, were brutally utilitarian in design, this vessel was anything but. The corridor was wide enough to drive a pair of Makos down it abreast, while the walls were decorated with elaborate frescos depicting what appeared to be events in the ship's history. The crew appeared to be only the same scale as the rest of the ship, as there appeared to be more people in this one corridor than there was on the entirety of the Normandy. Their hosts lead them through the crowd, people parting quickly around them, towards an ornately decorated double door. Entering, they found themselves in what Shepard assumed was a lift of some sort, an assumption that was confirmed a second later as Darius gave a brief command and they began to move.

Now that they were no longer walking or pointing weapons at each other, Shepard took the opportunity to study their host. Darius had black hair, similar to Shepard's own, but longer and careless brushed back into an unruly mane. There was also a large and quite deep scar over Darius' right eye. In fact, Shepard decided, it was a miracle that Darius still had that eye. It was then that Shepard realised something. Darius had grey eyes. Not blue eyes that were so pale as to look grey, but actual grey irises, that also lacked most of the detail of normal irises. They were simple rings of gunmetal grey surrounding the pupils.

Apparently Darius had notice Shepard looking at him. "It's the eyes isn't it?" He sighed, in the tone of someone who had discussed this particular topic one too many times before.

Caught by surprise Shepard answered, "Err, well I was hoping to find a more tactful way to asked but yes, what's with your eyes?"

"Cybernetics." Darius answered simply, before elaborating, "It was a choice between eyes indistinguishable from normal or this pair's improved performance."

"Improved? In what way?" Tali asked, her curiosity piqued.

"Improved visual fidelity, low light amplification, thermal imaging and an inbuilt targeting system." Darius rattled off before adding wryly, "I paid well for quality."

Trying to change the subject Shepard quickly asked, "This ship is something else. What is she exactly?"

He didn't miss the faint smile that crossed Darius' face, or the way he stood slightly straighter to deliver his answer. Shepard guessed that Darius, like Joker, was intensely proud of his ship and was inclined to think well of people who were complementary of her.

"_His Eternal Will_ is a Repulsive class grand cruiser, modified to serve as the flagship of the Augustin dynasty." Darius stated proudly.

"Wait, cruiser?" Ashley cut in. "Your cruisers are seven and a half kilometres long?"

"No. Like I said, the _Will_ is a grand cruiser, which are considerable larger than a standard cruiser. For example, The_ Dire Retribution_ is a Dictator class cruiser and is only five long."

"Yeah, _only._" Ashley snorted disbelievingly.

"So your cruisers are five kilometres long and your grand cruisers are seven and half." Garrus mused before asking, "So how big are your dreadnoughts?"

"Dreadnoughts?" Darius said, raising an eyebrow, "If you mean battleships, they are normally somewhere between ten to twelve kilometres long."

"Twelve kilometres? You have got to be kidding me." Shepard said, his head spinning from the scales Darius was causally tossing around.

"He speaks the truth, although he neglects to mention that there are far greater vessels in existence." Kaerune interrupted. "My people travel the stars in vessels known as Craftworlds, the least of which rival moons in scale."

"Okay," Ashley declared, "Now you're just inventing stuff to impress us poor, gullible visitors."

Kaerune glared at Ashley before responding coldly, "I feel no need to lie to impress a few Mon-keigh. Kindly do not insult me again."

"The Farseer is telling the truth." Darius interjected, trying to smooth over the incident, "I have only ever seen a Craftworld once and it was one of the minor ones, but it was by far the largest vessel I have even seen."

"Alright, alright." Shepard said, raising his hands in apology, "It's just difficult for us to wrap our heads around the scales you're mentioning."

Then the penny dropped. "Wait. Your people?"

Kaerune answered, "I am no more human than your accomplices are Commander Shepard. I am Eldar, one of the Children of Isha and Kurnous and part of one of the oldest races in the galaxy."

Now that Kaerune had mentioned this Shepard took another look at her. While Kaerune could indeed pass as human at first glance or at a distance, on second inspection her alien nature was clear. Most noticeably Kaerune's eyes lacked both pupil and iris, being instead orbs of pure white. Shepard then realised what had been bothering him about Kaerune since he had first seen her in the cargo bay. Kaerune moved with an effortless, easy grace that would make a veteran Asari huntress jealous. But unlike the huntresses Kaerune seemed completely unaware of this, almost as if this grace came naturally to her.

Pushing those thoughts aside Shepard asked, "So if you're part of one of the oldest races in the galaxy then why haven't we heard of you before?"

Before Kaerune could answer Darius cut in smoothly, "A fair question Commander. However it is a question with a long answer and as such is better answered while sitting comfortably with a drink in hand."

With this the lift clattered to a halt. Darius stepped out and then turned to his guests, "We will shortly arrive at my office. I promise we will answer all your questions then."

True to his word after a couple of turns they found themselves outside another pair of double doors this pair emblazoned with an elaborate coat of arms, depicting a robed and hooded figure standing with his arms extended, holding in his left hand a burning sword while his right held a pile of coins. This figure was framed by a field of stars and underneath it all were three words written in an elaborate cursive, "Ambitio terminum nescit."

"You people really don't do subtle do you?" Garrus asked, staring at the coat of arms.

Darius actually grinned at that, "Subtly? What is this strange concept you speak of?" he asked with mock puzzlement before pushing open the door and gesturing, "After you."

* * *

**Ok, on a more serious note, I am so sorry it took so long for this chapter to be finished. Real life kinda got in the way. Plus I realised that this story is going to be much more of an ambitious undertaking that I realised when I started, so I had to stop and plan things out a bit.**

**Now on to the next point (Because I do love my A/Ns). To anyone out there who can speak Latin, I apologise for my utter butchering of it. Because I don't speak a word of Latin (it being one of the fundamental underpinnings of the English language notwithstanding) I'm afraid had to resort to Google Translate for the Latin here. If anyone with an actual understanding of Latin want's to PM me more accurate versions of my gibberish here I would be most grateful. **

**Which leads me to the next topic of this rapidly growing A/N. The near-mythical creature known as a beta reader. In the smoky taverns we writers frequent, I have heard tales of such beings, told by grizzled authors, horrifically scarred by battles with Mary Sues, and MPreg fics. And now, gentle readers, I ask of you, have you heard of such creatures? Do they truly exist? Where can I find one? Can they really shoot fire from their wrists?**

**Having reread what I just wrote there, it's becoming clear that this story is doing bad things to my sanity.**

**One final thing before I stop my semi-coherent rambling. The next chapter was originally planned to be Darius and Shepard discussing the whole parallel universe shenanigans and Darius getting to grips with the basics of the MEverse. However it occurs to me that a) Most, if not all of you lovely people probably know this exposition off by heart now and b) You're probably really fed up with dialogue by now. So I was considering skimming lightly over Darius and Shep chatting, while keeping the key points and instead fusing the next chapter and the chapter after that (Which is where the time-honoured actively of blowing stuff up resumes) into one chapter. I can't decide on which option to pick so leave a review or send me a PM with your opinion and I'll quite happily go with the majority vote.**

**Anyway, I've probably taken up enough of your time with my ranting so I'll finish by reiterating once again, that constructive criticism is always greatly appreciated, it's the only way I'm going to get better at this whole writing thing.**

**Thanks for reading and merry (belated) Christmas and a happy new year to you all!**

**P.S If anyone wants translations of the Latin stuff here they are:**

**Darius 1st communcation over the comm : "I am Rogue Trader Darius Augustin of the Augustin dynasty, commanding the grand cruiser "His Eternal Will". Identify yourselves."**

**Coat of arms motto: "Ambition knows no bounds."**

**P.P.S I still don't own Mass Effect or Warhammer 40k.**


End file.
